Lake Pontchartrain Causeway | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Aerial view of the causeway | |
| Coordinates | 30°11′59″N90°07′22″W / 30.1997°N 90.1228°W /30.1997; -90.1228 |
| Carries | 4 lanes of Causeway Boulevard |
| Crosses | Lake Pontchartrain |
| Locale | Metairie andMandeville,Louisiana, U.S. |
| Other name | The Causeway |
| Maintained by | Causeway Commission |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Low-leveltrestle with mid-spanbascule |
| Total length | 23.87 mi (38.442 km)[1] |
| Clearance above | 15 ft |
| History | |
| Opened | August 30, 1956 (southbound) May 10, 1969 (northbound) |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 43,000[2] |
| Toll | $6.00 (southbound) |
| Location | |
 Interactive map of Lake Pontchartrain Causeway | |
TheLake Pontchartrain Causeway (French:Chaussée du lac Pontchartrain), also known simply asThe Causeway,[3] is a fixed link composed of two parallelbridges crossingLake Pontchartrain in southeasternLouisiana, United States. The longer of the two bridges is 23.83 miles (38.35 km) long. The southern terminus of thecauseway is inMetairie, Louisiana, and the northern terminus is inMandeville, Louisiana. Both are in theNew Orleans metropolitan area.
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway holds theGuinness World Record for longestcontinuous span over water in the world. It previously was listed aslongest bridge over water in the world; in 2011, in response to the opening of theQingdao Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China,Guinness World Records created two categories for bridges over water: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway then became the longest bridge over water (continuous), while the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge became the longest bridge over water (aggregate).[1][4]
The bridges are supported by 9,500 concrete pilings.[5] Abascule bridge spans the navigation channel 8 miles (13 km) south of the north shore.
The idea of a bridge across Lake Pontchartrain dates to the early 19th century andBernard de Marigny, the founder of Mandeville. He started aferry service that operated into the mid-1930s. In the 1920s, a proposal called for the creation ofartificial islands that would then be linked by a series of bridges. The financing for this plan would come from selling home sites on the islands. The modern causeway started to take form in 1948 when Ernest M. Loëb Jr. envisioned the project. Due to his lobbying and vision, theLouisiana Legislature created what is now theCauseway Commission. The Louisiana Bridge Company was formed to construct the bridge, which in turn appointed James E. Walters Sr. to direct the project.[6] Ernest M Loëb was assisted by his nephew, Ernest M. Loëb III, president of Ernest M. Loëb & Company, to plan the construction of the bridge[7]
The original causeway was a two-lane span, 23.86 miles (38.40 km) long. It opened in 1956 at a cost of $46 million (equivalent to $410 million in 2024 dollars). This included the bridge, three approach roads on the north end, and a long stretch of road on the south end.[8]
On June 16, 1964, six people died when barges tore a gap in the bridge and a bus plunged into the lake.[9]
A parallel two-lane span, 0.01 miles (16 m) longer than the original, opened on May 10, 1969, at a cost of $30 million (equivalent to $200 million in 2024 dollars).[8]
Since its construction, the causeway has operated as atoll bridge. Until 1999, tolls were collected from traffic going in each direction. To alleviate congestion on the south shore, toll collections were eliminated on the northbound span. In May 1999, the standard tolls for cars changed from $1.50 in each direction to a $3 toll collected on the North Shore for southbound traffic.[citation needed] In 2017, the toll was raised to fund safety improvements on the bridge. The toll changed from $3.00 with cash and $2.00 with a toll tag to $5.00 with cash and $3.00 with a toll tag.[10]
The opening of the causeway boosted the fortunes of small North Shore communities by reducing drive time into New Orleans by up to 50 minutes, bringing the North Shore into theNew Orleans metropolitan area. Prior to the causeway, residents ofSt. Tammany Parish used either theMaestri Bridge onU.S. Route 11 or theRigolets Bridge onU.S. Route 90, both nearSlidell, Louisiana; or on the west side, viaU.S. Route 51 throughManchac, Louisiana.[11]
AfterHurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005,videos collected showed damage to the bridge. Thestorm surge was not as high under the causeway as it was near theI-10 Twin Span Bridge, and damage was mostly limited to theturnarounds.[12] A total of 17 spans were lost on that bridge but[12] the structural foundations remained intact. The causeways have never sustained major damage of any sort from hurricanes or other natural occurrences, a rarity among causeways. With the I-10 Twin Span Bridge severely damaged, the causeway was used as a major route for recovery teams staying in lands to the north to get into New Orleans. The causeway reopened first to emergency traffic and then to the general public – with tolls suspended – on September 19, 2005. Tolls were reinstated by mid-October of that year.
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is one of seven highway spans inLouisiana with a total length of 5 miles (8.0 km) or more. The others are, in order from longest to shortest, theManchac Swamp bridge onI-55, theAtchafalaya Basin Bridge onI-10, theLouisiana Highway 1 Bridge, theBonnet Carré Spillway Bridge onI-10, theChacahoula Swamp Bridge onU.S. 90, the Lake PontchartrainTwin Spans onI-10, and theLaBranche Wetlands Bridge onI-310. TheMaestri Bridge comes close, but runs short by two-tenths of a mile at roughly 4.8 miles (7.7 km) in total length. Louisiana is also home to theNorfolk Southern Lake Pontchartrain Bridge, which at 5.8 miles (9.3 km) is one of the longestrailway bridges in the United States.
The southern end of theManchac Swamp Bridge (on the western edge of Lake Pontchartrain) is the western end of theI-10 Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge (on the southwestern edge of Lake Pontchartrain), and the northern end of theLaBranche Wetlands Bridge is the eastern end of the I-10 Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge; so these three bridges, by name, are in fact one contiguous bridge. The total driving distance on continuous elevated roadway is over 38 miles (61 km).
The bridge was designated as aNational Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers in 2013.[13]
For decades, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was listed byGuinness World Records as thelongest bridge over water in the world. In July 2011, theJiaozhou Bay Bridge in China was named byGuinness World Records as the 'longest bridge over water'.[4] At that time, there was some controversy in the United States as supporters of the former holder of the record, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, disagreed withGuinness World Records not calling the causeway the longest.[14] Supporters made this claim based on its own definition, i.e. the length of a bridge physically over water, and concluded that the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway spans 23.79 mi (38.28 km),[14] and was therefore the longest. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge spans water for only 16.1 mi (25.9 km). However,Guinness World Records, using the criteria of measurement that included aggregate structures, such as land bridges on the ends and an under-seatunnel, stated that the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is 26.5 mi (42.6 km) long.[4] Following this controversy in July 2011,Guinness World Records created two categories for bridges over water: continuous and aggregate lengths over water. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway then became thelongest bridge over water (continuous),[1] while Jiaozhou Bay Bridge became thelongest bridge over water (aggregate).[4]
Crossings of theLake Pontchartrain | ||||
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| Structural types |  | |
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